A Knife in the Dark
by Idril Ar-Feiniel
Summary: A knife in the dark: A tale of betrayal, friendship, war, and...romance? -better summary coming soon-


The constant, monotonous, boring sound of rain drumming on the wooden roof had lulled Haldir into a light, yet easy, sleep. His rough wooden desk was littered with a few cups, ink wells, and writing utensils, also a few maps and other papers with objectives and their descriptions were spread helter skelter adding to the busy mess in the study.

Rumil and Orophin were in the kitchen attempting to snag a few cookies from the jar their brother hid on top of a shelf, Arianna, his feahoon, was lecturing them in their miss deeds. Both boys had looks of annoyance, then fear, as she scooped them up and dragged them to their room.

Thunder boomed in the distance, rolling closer to them as the wind had never changed direction, the horses in the stables just aft of them were nickering and whinnying almost in anticipation of the obnoxious *crack* *bang* and flash of the storm.

Trelan, Palan, and Ranain each were cloaked and hooded in thick garments meant to keep the rain and chill at bay. Ranain was the oldest, though slightly younger then Haldir; the two had grown up together and were as good as friends as any two men can be. Palan was native to the land of Mirkwood, but came to Lothlorien after hearing about the Galadhrim, his skill with the bow was unmatched in his squadron, and not even Haldir could match him. Trelan was native to Lorien like the older two, but he was the youngest of the group. He was also the one to get into the most trouble.

"Damn this to hell..." Trelan muttered as he uncapped his flask and took a long sip from it, the strong wine making his throat and stomach feel warmer. He stomped his feet and rubbed his arms in an effort to keep warm. The *squish* *squash* noises from muddy ground sucking at his feet were a little too loud for his liking.

"Now now..." Came the stern voice of Ranain who was sitting on a tree branch above him, also doing what he could to keep warm, "We're here for a reason. Who wouldn't want to be on border duty while it was raining buckets?" He let his grey eyes fall to the younger elf who just shot him a scowl dark enough to even dampen Sauron's day.

"Well, Ranain." He answered, annoyance laced in his voice like poison in a person's food on the eve of their assassination, "Maybe you would like to sit up there under cover of the tree all alone? While Palan and I go somewhere warm and dry," He stomped his feet again on the muddy earth the rain was becoming thicker, harder to see. They drove like needles into the eyes of the three on duty.

Palan this whole time stood as still as a statue, his dark brown eyes glanced around him. His face was that of someone who could analyze a single situation in seconds and know what to do. His bow was beautifully carved from the black, strong wood that you could find in Mirkwood. It had a glossy look to it as he was constantly cleaning and caring for it. Changing the string every few weeks, he never let it reach its weakness. Palan's almost black hair was tied back into a pony tail unlike the other two who wore it down all the time. His form was muscular, yet tall and graceful like that of all elven people. "Shush...I thought I heard something." His voice was melodic which took the commanding edge away from him, much to his horror. He had an arrow fitted to the string before the other two knew what was happening.

"What do you mean you see something?" Hissed Ranain from his seat in the branches, "No one can see a damn thing," He folded his arms, "Let alone identify the enemy," He snorted in disbelief forgetting that the elves of Mirkwood...had exceptional eye sight.

The arrow flew past Rainain's head as an orc crashed through the trees to his left, the arrow embedded itself in the trunk behind him. Trelan had spun around just in time to miss a sword aimed at his midsection, he grabbed at his knives and begun to hack at the orc with precision.

Palan gave a small 'I told you so' smile before firing an arrow smack dab in the middle of the first orc's forehead. Ranain jumped down behind the orc trying to kill Trelan and easily drove both blades into his heart felling the orc in one fell swoop.

Trelan gave him a small thank you before slamming the hilt of his blades into the stomach of one and then slit open its throat, black blood gushed out of the orc staining his hands and some of his uniform. "Really? I mean just really?" He thundered in aggravation, "I just cleaned this!" Two orcs looked at each other then back at him and shrugged as the leapt at him, another elven arrow took out one of them as Trelan hacked the head off the second's shoulders.

Palan was slowly becoming overrun as he dropped his bow and drew his blades, he swung one in a wide arc to the right catching an orc in the side the force of the blow spinning the orc to the right like a toy top and into a second orc who became disgruntled and finished off his friend. "Gotta love orcs at times..." Palan muttered then drew in a sharp breath as one orc's arrows pierced his calf muscle. Rainain killed off the orcs around him and started scanning for the sniper –like archer. "H-he's there..." Palan pointed to a small grove as Trelan ran off to deal with him.

The arrow was hooked and barbed to make pulling it out a dumb idea. "How bad?" Palan asked in a soft tone her face masked in steely determination hinted with pain. "It's a clean shot, you'll be fine." Rainain's answer was calm and collected as he picked up his friend of his shoulders minding the injury.

Trelan came back, "Yeah...he was there alright. You okay, Palan?" He leaned followed the two as Palan nodded his skin growing pale. "Remember...Pale means you're alive." Trelan said in a half hearted joke which only drew a small smile from his injured friend.

"What'll Haldir do about you, Palan." Grunted Ranain, the other elf's body weight pressing down on his spine causing slight discomfort, "He'll probably give you only a few days leave and drag you back in." He chortled slightly and looked up at the sky, "Heh, the storm's going away." None of them had noticed the rain disappearing.


End file.
